Dinner Plans: Week 38

It’s Week 38 of Dinner Plans and we are saying goodbye to both summer and our favorite CSA!

This week was our last CSA pickup for Stepping Stone Farm. After much deliberation, Patrick is redirecting his energy and efforts towards farm education and pausing the CSA for now. I'm so appreciative of the care and intentionality he poured into every fruit and vegetable cultivated for his members like me. While I'm going to miss the CSA so much, I'm waiting for all the details on his regenerative farming workshops. I'm definitely looking to sign up as I hone my skills in building out our kitchen garden.

Seasonal Cooking Tip: Easy Ways to Preserve Summer

When it comes to seasonal cooking, this year I'm sharing a weekly tip here focused on preparing ingredients, preserving foods, and kitchen hacks that help you save time.

This week we're talking about what I call the "lazy gal's way to save the season." This is essentially: freezing fruits and veggies. I rely on this technique frequently both for ease of technique and ease of time. This week, I froze peppers, tomatoes, and a variety of sauces and pie fillings. When it comes to preserving or freezing produce, here are a couple of tips:

• For items like peppers: I make sure to give them a good rinse before I remove stems and seeds. Chop or dice peppers into desired cuts like diced pieces or slices for future fajitas. Store in freezer safe bags for up to a year.
• For tomatoes: I like to either freeze prepared sauce or freeze tomatoes whole. I usually do this with Early Girl tomatoes. Like the peppers, give the tomatoes a quick rinse and dry thoroughly before remove the top stems. I prefer storing whole in freezer safe bags. This is easy to do and have at the ready to make a roast tomato sauce.

Dinner Plans for Week 38

I've got some research to do when it comes to finding our next CSA. For now, I'll focus on shopping local farms directly and building out my own version of a CSA box to help keep costs to what we were paying on the weekly average at SSF. It'll be a shift for now but I look forward to showcasing the ways we're continuing to cook well and eat well through the changing seasons. We've got some spicy peppers to enjoy along with the last of the eggplant and heirloom tomatoes. There are travel plans this week so menu planning will focus on keeping meals light, fresh, and fast.

Here’s what we received from our final CSA share this week:

Stepping Stone Farm:

• Black Futsu Squash
• Clear Dawn Yellow Onion
• Heirloom Tomatoes
• Sapporo Togarashi Peppers
• Shinkansen Eggplant
• Mini Mac Daikon
• Fresh Herbs
• Fresh Kimchi from Rice Flower Koji

Our Game Plan for Dinner this Week:

Sunday: Grilled Halibut with Sautéed Corn, Peppers, and Eggplant Caponata

Monday: Tomato Tart or Caprese Salad

Tuesday: Mole Chicken Tacos

Wednesday: Seared Koji Marinated Steak with Daikon Radish Fries

Thursday: Zucchini Tart in Puff Pastry

Friday: A One Pot Pasta with Corn and Tomatoes adapted from this recipe

Saturday: Pizza Picnic with Pesto, Fior di Latte, and Prosciutto

From favorite recipes to new meal ideas using a wide variety of ingredients, cooking delicious food with our CSA definitely gets us out of a dinner rut while reducing food waste. I share meal ideas for our busy weeks with our weekly newsletter. Subscribe to our weekly newsletter to be in the know when they’re live. 😉